Apparatus for cleaning holes



Q J. wI'HADDociK APPARATUS FOR CLEANING HOLES Feb. 2, 1943.

' Filed March 27, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lll v Ezvenfior; ammimm Feb. 2,1943.

,1. w. HADDOCK APPARATUS FOR CLEANING HOLES Filed March 27, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 2, 1943 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING HOLES JohnW. Haddock, Michigan City, Ind, assignor to Sullivan Machinery Company,a corporation of Massachusetts Application March. 27, 1940, Serial No.326,249

1 Claim. (Cl. 2 55-19) This invention relates to apparatus for cleaningholes drilled in the earth and more particularly to improved apparatusfor removing water and loose material from a substantially verticalblast hole in which the drilling has been completed preparatory for thereception of a blasting charge.

In certain mining operations, such as overburden removal, it iscustomary procedure to drill relatively vertical holes of substantialdepth and to load the same with a suitable charge of explosive, and thento shoot them singly or in groups as may be found best at the particularoperation. During the drilling of such holes, cuttings are commonlyremoved by circulating water, delivered through a passage formedlongitudinally through the drill rod, to the bottom of the hole, whereit Washes away the cuttings from the bit, and carries them upwardlyabout the drill rod and out of the hole. After the hole has been drilledto the required depth it will, of course, be filled, around the drillrod, with water having cuttings suspended therein, and these cuttingsstart settling to the bottom of the hole as soon as the circulation ofwater stops. Before the explosive is placed in the hole it is importantthat all the cuttings and practically all the water he removed. Abailing process is not satisfactory, because it is difficult to clearout the last several feet at the bottom of the hole, since the cuttingssettle out very rapidly once water delivery through the drill rods isdiscontinued. And bailing is slow and may take almost as much time asdrilling. When it is desired to shoot the holes promptly after they aredrilled to the required depth some other procedure is highly desirable.I have found that by accumulating a substantial volume of air atconsiderable pressure and then releasing the air in large volume at thebottom of the hole the air will act much like a plunger and will forcethe water and loose material ahead of it out of the hole, and effect arelatively complete and very rapid cleaning of the latter. If the air isaccumulated during the drilling operation and released very shortlyafter the liquid circulation is ended and while a large part of thecuttings still in the well are yet in suspension, a most effective jobcan be done. The results will be entirely different from those whichwould be secured by discharging an air stream for a substantial periodat the bottom of the hole. That procedure would obviously wholly fail toremove the major part of the liquid, and an even larger percent of thecuttings would be left unremoved. My improved apparatus, however, iseffective in a single brief operation to place the hole in the desiredcondition, and if it be desired to bail out any water which may run backdown the walls of the hole this is easy and. may be done very quicklyand there will be no complications due to a semi-solid mass of cuttingsfilling a substantial part of the bottom of the hole.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide an improvedapparatus for cleaning a hole. It is another object of this invention toprovide an improved apparatus for removing Water and any loose materialthat remains in a hole after drilling has been completed. It is stillanother object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus forremoving water and loose material.

to the bottom of the hole in such quantities and V at such a pres-surethat the air acts upon the Water substantially as a solid plunger,forcing the water and material before it from the hole. Still anotherobject of my inventionis to provide an improved apparatus for cleansingsubstantially vertical drill holes. Yet a further object is to providean improved apparatus for drilling substantially vertical blast holesand preparing them for loading. Other objects and advantages of theinvention will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown one form of apparatus whichthe invention may assume in practice.

In these drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a drill rig constituting an illustrativeembodiment of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevationalview on a reduced scale,showing the drill rig of Fig. 1 in drilling position.

Fig. 3' is an enlarged plan view of the drill rig with the derrickremoved.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the connection' of the air tanksand the mud pump to the drill rod.

Referring to the drawings, it will be noted that there is shown a drillrig, generally designated l, comprising a platform 2 supported bytractor treads 3, 3 and having mounted thereon a derrick mast 4, a drillrod rotation mechanism 6-, hy-

draulic drill rod feeding mechanism 7, a hoist mechanism 8, a mud pump 9and air blast mechanism generally designated ID., A power unit- I2 isconnected through transmission mechanism l3, whose: mechanism is notillustrated in detail as connection 2| and the drill rod 22 to thbottomof the hole during drilling. from the pipe line to the hoseconnection 2| is controlled by a manually operated valve 23 located atthe forward end of the drill rig where it is close to the other controlsand within easy reach of the operator. A suitable safety-or reliefvalveclosed connection having a relief valve RV therein leads from the line20 short of the valve 23. The air blast mechanism comprises a smallcompressor 24 driven by a motor 25 for delivering air through a pipeconnection 25 to a receiver tank 21. In this construction there is showna second receiver tank 28 connected to the tank 21 through a pipconnection 29 having a valve 33 which permits fluid to flow only towardthe tank 28. The tanks 21 and 28 are connected through pipes 32 and 33under the control of manually operated valves 34 and 35 to a conduit 36which is also connected to the hose 2| leading to the end of the drillrod 22. A manually operated valve 38 located close to the valve 23controls the supply of air through the conduit 36 to the hose 2|. As thestructure of the drill rig more in detail does not enter into thisinvention, further detailed description thereof is herein unnecessary.

. During the operation of the drilling apparatus the power unit |2drives the drill rod rotation mechanism 6 through the transmissionmechanism l3, and the feeding of the drill may be controlled by thesupply of liquid from the pump 16 to the hydraulic drill rod feedingmechanism 1. The hose connection 2| is connected to the end of the drillrod through a suitable water swivel 33 and when the valve 23 is openedand the motor I8 is started to drive the pump 9 water is forced throughthe drill rod to the bottom of the hole where it washesaway the cuttingsand carries them out of the hole. The compressor 24 is driven by themotor 25 while the hole is being drilled to build up a pressure in thetanks 21 and 28. Since there will be material time for building up thepressure inthe'tanks the size of the compressor may be comparativelysmall.

"After the drilling has been completed the mud pump is stopped and thevalve 23 is closed and the valves 34 and/or 35 and 38 are opened and anair blast at substantial pressure and of large volume is deliveredthrough the hose 2| and the drill rod to the bottom of the hole forremoving water and any loose material therefrom. The air blast may bedelivered from one or both of the airtanks to the conduit 36 bymanipulating the valves 34 and 35, and is supplied from the conduit 36to the hose connection 2| under the control of the valve 38. If the holeis of such depth that the discharge from one of the air tanks will besufficient to blow out the hole, then it will be necessary to open onlythe valve 34 and supply compressed air to the conduit 36 from the tank21. The escape of air from the tank 28 will be prevented by the one wayvalve and by the manually operated valve 35. If a second blast of airshould be necessarytoclean out the hole the The flow of water valve 34may be closed to prevent the air from passing into the tank 21 and thenthe valve may be opened to connect the tank 28 with the conduit 36. If alarge volume of air is needed to effect a cleaning of the hole thevalves 34 and 35 are both opened to connect the tanks to the conduit 36.Air at a pressure of the order of 125 pounds per square inch has beenfound satisfactory with blast holes of the depth used for ordinaryoverburden shooting, but it will be noted that the pressure may bevaried to suit condi- The size of the air tanks, the pressure of the airwithin the tanks and the cross sectional area of the passageways leadingfrom the tanks to the bottom of the drilled h'ole will best be such thatthe air will be supplied suddenly in a large volume to act against thecontents of the hole at a high and relatively constant pressure untilthe water ahead of the air blast has been forced from the hole. If theair passages aremade of suitable size it will be appreciated that air insuch volume can be discharged into the bottom of the hole that it willact virtually as a solid annular plunger and blow all the water andcuttings before it out of the hole. Any water that may drain back fromthe walls will be in such small quantity that it may be quickly removedwith a bailer. Obviously, if desired, the drill bit may be removedbefore the air blast is to be discharged through the drill rod line, andif desired a separate air discharge line of adequate volume could beused, being inserted after drilling is completed, without departing fromthe scope of the invention. It may be noted that, without limitationthereto, my invention includes means for delivering to the bottom of ahole of a gaseous fluid in such volume and at such pressure that it iscapable of providing at least a momentary flow at a pressure exceedingthe static pressure at the bottom of the hole and filling the fullvolume between the fluid delivery conduit and the wall of the hole. Itwill be self-evident, however, that this condition is not critical, asaeration of the column of liquid will enable a smaller temporarilymaintained flow pressure to clean the hole adequately, and a removal ofsome liquid by natural flow following aeration, and at least the balanceof the remainder by a rushing annular air column, is within the scope ofthe invention also.

As a result of this invention, it will be noted that an improvedapparatus for cleaning a drilled hole is provided. It will further benoted that the cleaning of a hole by this improved apparatus may beefiected more quickly, easily and effectively than is possible by anyother means of which I am advised. Other advantages of this improvedapparatus of cleaning drilled holes will be clearly apparent to thoseskilled in the art.

While there is in this application specifically described one form whichthe invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that thisform of the same is shown for purposes of illustration and embodied inother forms without departing from its spirit or the scope of theappended claim.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

An apparatus for forming vertical or substantially vertical blast holesand preparing them for the reception of a blasting charge comprising, incombination, means including a drilling instrumentality attached to andoperated by a tubuular rod line for drilling a vertical or substantiallyvertical hole, means for conducting a cleansing liquid through the redline to the bottom of the drill hole to wash away the cuttings from thevicinity of the drilling instrumentality during the drilling operation,means for discontinuing the flow of cleansing liquid through the rodline to the bottom of the drill hole when the drilling operation iscompleted, and means for suddenly discharging a large volume ofcompressed gaseous fluid through the rod line, while the drillinginstrumentality remains in the hole and the cuttings and mud are insuspension in the liquid, to the bottom of the hole and at a pressureexceeding the static hydraulic head at the bottom of the holesufficiently substantially completely to blow out the cleansing liquid,cuttings and mud remaining in the bottom of the hole.

JOHN W. HADDOCK.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,510,001.

February 2, 19h5 JOHN W. HADDOCK.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2,second column, line 611., before the Word "embodied" insert --that theinvention may be modified and";

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correctiontherein that the same may conform to the record of the case in thePatent Office Signed and sealed this 27th day of April A. D. 1911.5

Henry Van Arsdale,

(Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

